Shivaradni
by Neila Nuruodo
Summary: A notorious assassin known only as Kali has been killing with impunity on Coruscant. When the mysterious figure murders a member of the Imperial Court, Palpatine decides he has had enough, tasking Thrawn to help the local security forces apprehend or neutralize Kali. Of course, it doesn't exactly go as planned...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I own nothing, make nothing, fair use, etc.

* * *

Darius Prewitt took a deep breath as he was ushered into Emperor Palpatine's presence. Earlier that day he had made love to his wife, updated his will, and kissed and hugged both his children. He was, in short, as ready to die as a man could be.

He bowed deeply before the throne, holding it until Palpatine spoke.

"What has your investigation found?"

"Your Majesty, Kren Blista-Vanee was killed by an assassin known as Kali. We have not been able to determine how he infiltrated his security and eluded capture afterward; it would seem he tampered with the security cams so they did not record during the attack."

The emperor gazed at him, face impassive. "My close advisor is dead. How do you intend to prevent this from happening again?"

Darius swallowed. "Your Majesty, our Special Tasks Division does have a task force working to apprehend this Kali. They were the ones who informed me that this assassination was his work. It seems this assassin is highly intelligent and has evaded all attempts at capture or even identification."

"This is unacceptable. I will not tolerate this assassin murdering my council. He must be taken down."

 _I guess he draws the line at literal back-stabbing._ The infighting among Palpatine's councilors was legendary. "We will make it our top priority, Your Majesty."

Palpatine frowned, his fingers tapping a pattern on the armrest of his throne. "If this Kali is as smart as your task force believes, it won't be enough. We must fight fire with fire." The tapping stopped, and the emperor sat up a bit straighter. "I will send Vice Admiral Thrawn to head your task force." His lips spread in a smile. "If anyone can out-clever your assassin, it's him."

Hope and relief flooded Darius as he realized he was going to live—at least for now. "Understood, Your Majesty. We will cooperate fully with him, of course."

"See to it, Security Chief Prewitt." The emperor dismissed him with a gesture, and Darius bowed again and left.


	2. Chapter 1

Thrawn glanced around the conference table at the assemble Coruscant Security officers. If any of them resented his presence among them, they hid it well. From his discussion with the head of the task force, though, they were pretty frustrated at the complete lack of success they'd had in the six months since the task force had been assembled. By now they were no doubt ready to set aside their pride and accept whatever help they could get.

"Thank you all for bringing me up to speed. I've read through the data you've collected on Kali and applied my particular brand of analysis to it. I believe I have discovered a pattern linking her targets."

"Her?" The previous head, Captain Narov, furrowed his brow.

Thrawn gave him a cool smile. "Yes, Kali is a woman. Not that it changes how dangerous she is, of course. I intend to contract a hit, tailored to match her preferred targets, in order to draw her out."

Narov frowned. "We have considered doing that in the past, but there are a few issues with actually doing so, not the least of which was finding someone to be the bait."

"Indeed," Thrawn said. "It has to be someone that others with the means to hire an assassin would want dead. What's more, it needs be someone well-protected enough to be worth seeking out an assassin of Kali's caliber—and price tag. If it looks suspiciously easy she won't come within a kilometer of the job.

"Not only that, but if we request Kali specifically it could make her suspicious. It's much more likely to succeed if we don't request her by name, and instead tailor our target to match her skill level and criteria." Thrawn began pacing as he mentally reviewed his conclusions. "While studying her known and suspected targets, it occurred to me that none of those she killed—and very few of those we suspect—were what one might consider good people. I believe our assassin has delusions of being a hero."

"If I may, Admiral?" one of the men interjected. Thrawn gestured for him to go ahead. "I'm not sure the assassination of Jerome Rabban fits your pattern."

"I was personally acquainted with Rabban before his death. He gave generously to charity, as you no doubt know, but it was because he was greatly concerned with his public image. He was an angry, violent person in private; I personally witnessed him beat his wife for standing too close to another man in public. I would not consider him a good person. 

"But this brings up another important point. Kali, it would seem, has access to information that is not common knowledge. Either she maintains a network of intelligence agents, or she has ties to someone who does. Either way, we'll have to move carefully to avoid tipping her off."

"This is all good to know, but it doesn't solve our core problem of who might serve as our target. I mean, I can think of any number of people who would fit the bill, but I rather doubt any of them would agree to be bait. And we can't risk setting someone up without at least warning them, since we'd have to take precautions to protect them—plus we can't guarantee that Kali won't succeed in taking out our bait."

Thrawn gave Narov an appraising look. "I believe I have a solution for that as well. As it happens, I'm nearly an ideal match for the position already. I have someone making some additions to my biography and personnel files to make me look like an attractive target."

His words were met by surprise. After a moment Narov spoke again.

"Are you sure that's wise, Admiral?"

"There are certainly risks, but I think they can be mitigated. After all, Kali will be expecting an unsuspecting target. I'll be prepared; I can wear armor and take some other precautions as well. Plus, I think we can create an opportunity that will draw her out when we're ready and waiting. She seems to prefer making her hits while her targets are away from home in a fairly private setting, where there will be enough people coming and going that she won't stand out but security is generally not as good as a home setup."

He gave them a hard smile. "As it's common enough knowledge in some circles that I'm an art connoisseur, I can set up some kind of private or semi-private showing to lure her out. I'll increase security at my apartment in the meantime to make it a less desirable choice.

"Now, I know you've all been working on this far longer than I have, so I'd welcome any additions or suggestions you might have to my plan…"

ψ

Thrawn cast a casual glance around the art gallery. His view was partially obstructed by the shaliz'na mobiles on display, but from what he could see, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Of course, any of the patrons he didn't recognize, any of the staff, could be Kali in disguise. Or perhaps she had chosen not to make her attempt here…or maybe she hadn't taken the job.

Thrawn turned his gaze to another mobile, setting his worries aside. The sculpture was composed of small pieces of metal, worked into stylized representations of animals and suspended from nearly invisible wires. Different kinds of animals hung from higher or lower bars, allowing them to turn independently and giving the impression that the predatory animals chased the prey as the gentle breeze from the display's fan made the mobile spin lazily.

Of course, the sculptures served another purpose for Thrawn aside from their beauty. Hanging as they did at head height for easy viewing, he hoped they would make it impossible for Kali to attempt a headshot. She would aim for the heart instead, and his body armor should protect him.

But they were two hours into the show, and as far as the security officers could tell, there'd been no sign of her. There probably wouldn't be, of course, not until she made her move. But it was possible it wouldn't come during this viewing like he'd predicted it would. Hopefully she was just waiting for the patrons to thin out a bit.

Of course, she could be waiting for something else, particularly if she hadn't gained access to his profile in the military databases and read up on the atrocities he'd planted in his past. He raised a hand imperiously, and a moment later a serving girl approached.

"Your pleasure, sir?"

He looked her up and down, pleased to see that she was the woman he'd paid ahead of time to put on a little scene with him. "Whiskey. Arnor's Reserve, the '57."

She bowed and disappeared, returning a few minutes carrying a tall glass with a few fingers of a deep amber liquid. He took it, swirling the liquid and taking a drink. He turned to face the woman, who was waiting to be dismissed.

"This is not '57." He made his voice ice-cold.

She glanced upward for a second before returning her gaze to the floor. "My apologies, sir. Let me—"

"If I'm not mistaken," he went on as though she hadn't spoken, "this is a late '80s vintage." He gave the woman a cruel smile. "'87, perhaps?" He let the glass slip from his fingers to shatter on the floor, sending shards of crystal and liquid scattering across the floor, and backhanded the woman. "Next time, bring someone who can read with you." He turned away and continued studying the mobiles on display, ignoring the staff who scurried over to clean up the mess.

A few minutes later another waitress approached with his replacement drink. He took it and waved her away after sampling it. A nice touch on his actress's part, he mused; sending someone else with the "corrected" order helped to play up how traumatized she was by his treatment of her. If Kali was here but hadn't decided whether or not to pull the trigger, that ought to make up her mind for her.

A half hour later, Thrawn was beginning to think it had all been a waste. The show was winding down; if Thrawn didn't stay late at these types of events as a matter of course he would have left already so as not to provoke suspicion in case she was just observing him. Of course, if her intel was as good as he suspected, she might be counting on—

An impact rocked him back, then another hit, making him stagger into a mobile. He reflexively clutched his chest, where he'd been struck, and the smell of charred cloth rose to his nostrils. That, plus the fact that his armor was growing uncomfortably warm just over his heart, brought the realization that the blows he'd felt had been blaster bolts.

 _Finally!_ Excitement and adrenalin coursed through him. Others began to realize what had happened, and once they started panicking and making for the doors Thrawn let himself slump to his knees. By now Kali had to have moved, though if she hadn't the fleeing patrons would give him some cover. The security forces hidden in one of the storerooms would fan out to block the exits and cut off her escape. It was out of his hands; all he had to do was act like he was dying so she wouldn't realize it was a trap until too late.

After a minute, Thrawn stood and dusted himself off. By now, it would be over. He pulled his comlink out. "Report."

"We got a glimpse of her, but she escaped somehow. Still trying to determine how."

Thrawn frowned and headed toward the employee area. He quickly located the head of the security team, busy speaking to a few other officers.

"What do we have so far?" Thrawn asked.

The human gestured back the way Thrawn had come. "Seems she took her shots from the doorway there. We got eyes on her," he indicated one of the men standing with him, "and he swears she disappeared into one of the storerooms. It was locked behind her, and when he got back with our slicer it was unlocked again and there was no one inside. I've got men searching it top to bottom right now. If she's hiding we'll find her, and if not we'll at least figure out how she got out."

Thrawn turned to the officer who had seen her. "How well did you see Kali?"

"Not all that well, I'm afraid. That is, I had a clear line of sight, but she was wearing a dark jumpsuit with a hood. Definitely female, though," he held his hand up around Thrawn's shoulder level, "about so tall, willowy build. Couldn't see any skin, but human-shaped at least."

"That rules out some species, at least. Nothing unusual about the shape of her head?"

The officer shook his head. "No horns or lekku or anything."

"Get with a modeler and work up a model of what you did see before the memory fades or gets distorted." The man acknowledged and took off, and Thrawn turned back to the security head. "I'd like to see this storeroom."

"This way."

Thrawn followed him to a door near the back of the building. Before they reached the door, it slid open to show a young human in a security officer's uniform. He stopped short on seeing them.

"Think we've got something, sir." They followed him through the doorway, and he pointed to the ceiling. There was a faint square visible where he was pointing; in the dim lighting and from this distance, he couldn't tell if it was part of the building's design or if it had been cut and replaced.

Two men had ducked out after they entered the storeroom; they returned carrying a ladder and set it up under the hole. Time to find out how she had slipped their cordon.

ψ

Thrawn snapped awake, wondering blearily what had awoken him. He sat up, rubbing his face, and said, "Lights, ten percent."

A mechanical voice jolted him to full wakefulness. "No sudden movements, now."

He froze in the middle of reaching toward his nightstand, where his sidearm was tucked away. There was a figure in a black bodysuit leaning against the wall of his bedroom, leveling a blaster at him. It could only be Kali. He slowly lowered his arm, knowing he'd never get to his pistol in time, and began analyzing his options.

To be honest, he didn't have many. If Kali was here to kill him, he was dead. She'd gotten the drop on him. Unless he could get her talking, get her to relax a bit, lower her guard, then try for his blaster. That would be chancy, though. Probably better to try and figure out why she was here. If she just wanted to kill him, he'd already be dead. Probably.

He had made sure to cancel the hit after they'd failed to catch her at the art gallery. It had been four days, so she shouldn't be here to finish the job. More likely she'd figured out he was trying to catch her.

"What's wrong?" she asked. The voice scrambler was a good one; he could hear the amusement in her tone through it. "I thought you wanted to see me?"

"You could say that," Thrawn murmured. "You can lose the voice scrambler, by the way. I know you're female."

Her lips, the only part of her visible beneath her hood, curved in a smile. "No thanks. I know you're hunting me. I suggest you give it up. That sort of work can be bad for your health, you know."

Thrawn knew a threat when he heard one. He arched an eyebrow in return. "Are you suggesting I chance the emperor's wrath instead?"

Without seeing her face it was hard to be certain, but he thought she seemed surprised by that. "Bad luck for you, then. I have work to do." Her lips compressed to a line. "I don't care who you are. If you get in my way, I'll take you out."

"Perhaps there's another way," Thrawn said, his thoughts whirling. "You're obviously highly intelligent and skilled. The Empire could use you. I'm confident I can negotiate amnesty for your past crimes in return."

"No deal." Thrawn was taken aback by the vehemence in her mechanized tone. "I have no interest in being the government's attack dog."

Thrawn was silent for a moment, considering her words. "I'd noticed that you seem to target bad people, almost exclusively."

"There's no shortage of those," she replied. "If you dig deep enough almost everyone's got some nastiness hiding in their past. You can bury it, but sooner or later it comes to light."

"And you?" Thrawn asked. "Do you consider yourself a good person?"

She snorted. "I make a living killing people. What the frell do you think?" She shook her head.

"That seems a bit hypocritical," he said, keeping his tone mild. He wanted to convince her to spare him, not piss her off.

"At least I make the galaxy a little better by killing off some of the scum." Cool amusement colored her voice. "I like to think they'll be reincarnated somewhere they can do less harm." She cocked her head to the side. "Surely you aren't trying to pretend you're any better, now."

"The incident with the serving girl?" He smirked. "Scripted. I paid her well for her willingness to put on a show. I wasn't sure where you'd draw the line when it comes to your targets."

"And the massacre on Tonfar?"

 _So she did access the military database. Good to know._ "Never happened. I fabricated that, as well as a few other damning incidents, and had them added to my personnel files in the hopes that you'd take the bait."

She seemed unimpressed. "Ah, so you're actually a good person, and anything that made you look bad was just planted to draw me in. Is that about right?"

Something told him that lying would be a bad idea. She didn't seem inclined to kill him now, but if she found out later he'd lied to her, she might change her mind about that.

"Not everything. I'm probably no better a person than yourself. My intent has always been to make the galaxy a safer place, but I've faced my share of hard decisions, and I haven't always been proud of the outcome."

She seemed to find that amusing. "An Imperial officer working for the greater good? That's rich." She grinned. "I don't think I've heard that one before."

Thrawn grit his teeth, refusing to rise to the bait.

She watched him for a long moment, then shrugged. "Back off. Stop trying to catch me. Or I'll visit you again, and it won't be to talk." She gave him a hard smile. "Sleep tight, now."

There was a flash of blue, and then nothing.


	3. Chapter 2

Thrawn spent the next morning in a whirlwind of activity. It seemed Kali had managed to get in without triggering his security system, so he contracted a company to completely replace it with a newer, better one, including a new lock for his door. While they worked on that, he met with the Kali task force to let them know what had happened and what he'd learned.

When he finished his tale, the others just stared at him, thunderstruck. Captain Narov finally broke the silence.

"You got lucky."

"Agreed," Thrawn said soberly. "I'm having my security system upgraded, but I'm not counting on that to stop her. We need to catch her."

"Well, we can't risk trying the job trick again. Sounds like all she needs is an excuse to finish you off." The man gave Thrawn an apologetic glance. "Plus it's not likely to work again."

"Just so. We'll continue pursuing conventional leads, of course. Have someone try to trace the financial hold generated when we arranged the hit. It probably won't lead us to Kali, but it might point us toward a contact or handler. I'd also like any intel we get on contracts she might take from here forward. If we can't lure her in, we'll have to try and anticipate her moves. If you get so much as a hunch that she might be gunning for someone, I want to hear it."

He sat down and began reviewing the latest intel on his datapad as the others began talking amongst themselves. If only he had examples of art that she'd made, or even an idea of what styles she favored…

ψ

Thrawn stalked through his apartment. He knew someone was there; he'd heard them moving around softly. He rounded the corner into his living area, then followed the hallway to his bedroom.

There it was—a shadow against the wall. It turned, stepped into the light, pointing a blaster at him. Thrawn furrowed his brow. Where had he put his own blaster? He could have sworn he had it a second ago.

The thought was scattered as the shadow's face came fully into the light to show it was nothing more than featureless black with a mouth. He felt a chill as the lips smiled slowly and spoke in a mechanical tone.

"I'll make sure you're reincarnated somewhere cold."

He tried to speak, to convince Kali to spare him, join him, anything but kill him, but his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth.

She spoke again, but the voice scrambler glitched out, emitting a series of raucous beeps.

Thrawn inhaled sharply, suddenly awake, and turned his alarm off. He sat for a moment, fighting to recall the dream. _Reincarnated. She used that word when she was here. But what does that even mean?_ He climbed out of bed and got dressed on autopilot. His grasp of Basic was excellent, but every now and then he encountered a new word for the first time and had to look it up.

The other night he'd been far more concerned with staying alive, so the word hadn't made much of an impression. But it seemed his subconscious had dredged it back up. He seated himself at the holonet terminal to look it up.

He finally found a meaning that fit the context in the definition of "reincarnation:" the belief that the soul, upon the death of the body, comes back in another body or form; rebirth of the soul in a new body. So it was a religious term. Interesting, and potentially informative. _If she is a religious person, knowing more about her beliefs could provide some valuable insight into her thought processes._ He did a bit more searching, found a list of religions that believed in reincarnation.

It didn't take him long to narrow it down; one of the religions, sanatana dharma, featured a goddess by the name of Kali. What's more, Kali was a deity of destruction, particularly the destruction of evil forces; it fit too perfectly to be a coincidence. On a whim, he searched for artwork related to sanatana dharma and was pleasantly surprised to find a good number of results, from architecture to statues and flats. He settled in to study it, figuring he could get as much out of that as reading endless pages explaining the religion.

As he was perusing the artwork, a piece caught his eye. _Is that… a Chiss?_ He opened the page for a closer look. The painting depicted a man dressed in an animal skin, with some kind of serpent coiled around his neck. His dark hair and distinctly bluish skin tone reminded Thrawn of his own species, but the eyes—of which, he realized, there were three, two in the usual location and a third oriented vertically in the center of the forehead—looked like human eyes.

The page identified the figure as Lord Shiva, one of the three primary gods of sanatana dharma. It went on to discuss the symbolism of the various elements of the painting, but Thrawn's eyes were drawn back to the central figure. The similarity to his own species was eerie, and he wondered if his people had encountered the faith's early practitioners and left an impression on them.

ψ

Thrawn entered the meeting room to find it in a state of controlled chaos. Before he could ask the nearest officer what was going on, Captain Narov jogged over.  
"Admiral! I was just about to call you. We've had a breakthrough."

Thrawn followed the human to the conference table, where there were a number of flimsiplast printouts spread out in a haphazard pattern. Narov picked one up and handed it to Thrawn.

"Three days ago. Suspected front company rents office space in the BelivCo Tower. The suite overlooks the garden area of the Dynast Ballroom." He picked up another page. "Armored aircar rental, reserved two days ago, for five days from now." He gave Thrawn a meaningful look. "I checked with the Dynast Ballroom. In five nights, General Melahue will be celebrating his daughter's 18th birthday there. And that's not all."

Thrawn frowned. Melahue's name seemed familiar to him; he was sure he'd heard it recently. "Who is he? General Melahue."

"He's with 4th Division. He recently took down a Black Sun operation here on Coruscant. Though some say he was working with Black Sun, you know, making a bit on the side, and the partnership went sour." He gave Thrawn a grim smile. "Unlikely anyone will be able to confirm that, since most of those who would have known didn't survive the fighting."

"I see." Sounded like there were those who would want the man dead either way.

"Yeah. Once we found out about the office, I had a flatcam installed across the traffic lane, pointing into the office windows. It's not good enough quality to identify anyone, but since it went up there's never been more than one person inside the offices. Height and build are a match for Kali, and this person spends a lot of time looking down toward the ballroom's gardens with some kind of viewing optic. And just an hour ago, it looked like they were assembling some kind of tripod. Again, from that distance we can't be sure, but it looks like one that could be used with a sniper rifle."

"Have you had any of your men anywhere near this office?"

Narov shook his head. "Aside from dropping off the flatcam, which we made sure to do at a good distance, I've made sure to keep them far away."

Thrawn nodded. "Good." He looked over the flimsies in his hands, trying not to frown. Something about this was bothering him. It was a little too neat. "Quite a stroke of luck, wouldn't you say?"

"Definitely. Usually we can only put these kinds of pieces together after the fact. It feels good to be ahead of her for once."

Thrawn shook his head. "I hate to break your heart, Captain, but Melahue isn't her target."

The officer stared at him, poleaxed. "Forgive me for saying so, Admiral, but you're making no sense. All the evidence points to him. And this didn't just fall into our collective lap. Some of this intel was quite difficult to come by."

"Of course it was. Kali knows she has to contend with me on top of your own task force; she knows any deception she creates has to be subtle to succeed." He gave Narov a small smile. "I expect we'll find a few more pieces of evidence pointing toward Melahue over the next few days. She'll want to be sure we don't miss too many clues, after all. Plus the new data will keep our attentions focused in the wrong direction, keep us from having too much time for second thoughts.

"No, Captain, her true target will be somewhere else at the same time. While we diligently protect Melahue, she'll hit someone else." Thrawn's eyes narrowed. "The only question is, who? She'll be covering her tracks carefully so we don't get any conflicting intel." Thrawn looked at Narov. He looked doubtful, but he didn't seem inclined to argue further, either. "Begin making plans for how we would protect Melahue and capture Kali if she were to be in that office."

Narov blinked. "Ah… Admiral?"

Thrawn gave the man a sly smile. "We certainly don't want Kali realizing we've seen through her deception. We'll make preparations to catch her there, then leave a token force to maintain appearances, just in case she has someone watching, and change our focus to the true target." His smile dimmed. Now he just had to figure out who that other target could be.

ψ

Thrawn sat in his meditation room, eyes closed to slits. Around him, samples of sanatana dharma art featuring the goddess Kali glowed above the holoemitters; he could swivel his chair to face any of them he wished to study more thoroughly. For the moment, though, he was deep in thought.

Captain Brennan Jarvis, of the _Furious Lance._ Unmarried, one mistress. Generally known to be a demanding leader and a harsh enemy, he showed no tolerance for those that defied the Empire's rule—and no patience with the thorough investigation such allegations should warrant. Currently taking leave from his post to play politics on Coruscant. He had demonstrated a heavy-handedness in his political games akin to his military style, which had made him any number of enemies. He would be hosting a small dinner party for some political supporters and potential allies the following evening.

Caspius Mercutio, CEO and founder of Starlines Shipping, as well as board member of numerous other corporations. Unmarried, mistresses…well, generally a new one every week. Preferred to run his business from the comfort of his home; on the rare occasions he left his mansion, it was generally only for big-game hunting off-planet. Rumored to be in the slave trade up to his eyeballs. No known plans to leave his house the following day, but then he left so rarely that wasn't really a disqualifying factor; Kali would have to plan on killing him in his home if he was her target.

He had narrowed Kali's target down to one of these two men, but he could not say which of them it would be. He suppressed a burst of irritation; he _hated_ being unable to solve a puzzle. He must be missing something.

He was operating under the assumption that Kali was trying to be more clever than him, perhaps even gauge how smart he really was. But what if there was more to it? She had to know he wouldn't underestimate her again; whatever target he focused on, he'd have contingencies upon contingencies to prevent her from escaping after she made her move. Perhaps she was concerned with making sure his security forces were occupied elsewhere while she did her job. That would imply that her true target might be well-defended but for her deception. Mercutio would be heavily guarded no matter what; he had his own private security forces. That indicated Jarvis as the more likely target.

Not to mention, he realized with a grim smile, that Jarvis, as a fellow naval officer, would be a higher priority for Thrawn to protect. He shut off the holograms and stood. Captain Jarvis had to be the target. Now, to make sure Kali didn't slip away this time.

ψ

Thrawn stood in the mobile CIC they had set up for the operation, watching the flatvid feeds over the security officer's shoulder. He had motion sensor cams placed in every possible sniper perch around the venue; these were all dark at the moment, not having registered any movement in the last five minutes. The lit-up screens showed feeds from the establishment's own security cameras. So far he'd seen nothing out of the ordinary, and the dinner party was just kicking off.

For the hundredth time he wished he could be in there, assessing the situation from up close where he could get a feel for where the attack might come from. But she knew him by sight, and there would be no better way to guarantee she'd be warned off. He sighed softly, resigned to keeping to a background role.

He listened with half an ear to the regular check-ins of the officers inside the venue proper, keeping most of his attention on the vid screens. The proprietor of the establishment had assured him that all of the staff working tonight had been employed there for at least a month. Thrawn had memorized their faces, as well as those of the female guests. Unless someone had brought her in on their arm, he would spot her the moment she showed.

Minutes ticked by, dragged into an hour. Doubt began to trickle into the corners of his mind, and he attempted to banish it, reminding himself that she would probably wait until the guests were good and liquored up to make her move. Plus, any security agents would begin to get complacent after such a long wait.

A deviation in the check-in order pulled his attention away from the screens. Thrawn waited a few seconds in case he had simply missed it, then keyed his commlink.

"Eight, report in." There was no response. Thrawn called up a mental map of the building's interior. "Three and Six, go check on Eight, see what's going on."

The officers in question acknowledged the order, and the last two agents checked in normally. After a long minute, Three's voice came over the comm.

"We've found Eight. He seems to be unconscious, no visible injuries. Probably a stun blast."

"She's here," Thrawn said darkly. "On your toes, gentlemen."

The next several minutes passed in tense silence broken only by the officers checking in, now every minute since someone had been downed.

"This is Four, I have eyes on." The voice was barely a whisper.

Thrawn leaned forward, scrutinizing the monitors. "Location?"

"Back hallway, entering the kitchen area now."

Thrawn permitted himself a tight smile. "One and two, secure the target. All others, cut off all exits from the kitchen. Begin a sweep once exits are secure."

He could see her now, at the edge of the kitchen's security feed. She was in a black bodysuit identical to the one she'd worn when she'd broken into his home. The hood was cinched over her face, showing nothing but her mouth.

Thrawn frowned, an odd thought tickling the back of his mind. Something seemed off…

"Contact! One is down, I repeat—" The voice cut off abruptly, and Thrawn cursed, spinning to the door of the CIC.

"All available forces, deploy to the target!" He sprinted down a narrow alley and around the corner to the back door of the venue. The second it took for his key card to open the door seemed interminable; once inside, he sprinted directly for the dining room. Unfortunately, the guests were fleeing in a panic, going the opposite direction; the security officers, in their uniforms, were being accosted by angry and terrified people. Under the circumstances, he couldn't count on them to get to Kali.

He drew his sidearm as he reached the doorway and leaned in for a quick glance. Kali was there, crouching over a still form, and as he appeared she rose and drew a blaster in one smooth motion. He pulled back immediately. His blaster was set to stun; judging by the form on the ground, hers was not. Based on how quickly she'd moved at his appearance, she'd be able to shoot him as well if he tried for her. And he wasn't wearing armor this time, not that she'd be likely to try for another body shot after their first encounter.

"Freeze!" he ordered, hazarding a peek. She smiled in response.

"Not on your life." She moved backward steadily.

Thrawn crouched and leaned around, taking aim with a stun blast, but was driven back by a ruby bolt from her own weapon. He ground his teeth; clearly she was unwilling to risk being taken alive. He still hoped to capture her; killing her would be a waste. But it was beginning to look like his next trap might need to be a deadly one.

She stopped by an open window, reaching outside with her free hand to do something he couldn't see in his quick glances into the room. She never took her gaze from the doorway, and any lingering look or attempt to fire at her was answered by a blaster bolt, forcing him to duck back. He watched the barrel of her pistol; if it had wavered so much as a centimeter he'd be able to aim and fire in the lapse. But her aim stayed rock-steady…and suddenly she let herself fall out the window.

Thrawn sprinted into the room and carefully poked his head out. There, on the side she'd been reaching toward, was a thin metal cable stretched tightly toward a nearby building at a slight downward angle. A zipline, he realized, just as the cable went slack and began to drop, released from the far end. He took a mental snapshot of its position before it began to fall, then holstered his blaster and headed to the kitchen.

A pair of officers rushed into the room, weapons at the ready. Thrawn waved for them to stand down. "She's already gone." He pointed at the window. "She had a zipline set up, leading south by southeast. She detached the far end already. Get an aircar and get out there, see if you can extrapolate the end point."

The officers acknowledged the order and ran back out. Thrawn scowled to himself. They should have had her this time. Every indication he'd gotten from studying her made it clear she worked alone. Time to talk to their captive.

He strode down the hall and found the kitchen. A pair of officers were holding her, one by each shoulder, while two more covered them from a meter away. Thrawn stopped by them, keeping a safe distance from the captive.

"Have you begun questioning her yet?"

"We asked a few basic questions, but she isn't talking. We figured we'd wait for you before proceeding."

Thrawn scrutinized the captive. This close he could see she wasn't Kali. The skin was a few shades too light, the lips the wrong shape. He frowned. "Take off the hood."

"She, uh, she fought like a nek last time we tried, Admiral. We almost had to stun her to calm her down."

Thrawn turned his attention to the woman. "Do you know who I am?" She nodded. "Then you know how unwise it would be to provoke my ire. Cooperate, and I'll see that you're treated well. If you don't, I'll make your life a living hell." She nodded again, a bit jerkily, and Thrawn turned his gaze back to the officer. "Try again now."

This time, the woman put up no fight when they released the hood's cinch and pulled it back. Or rather, the man; with his face revealed, it was clear he was male. The jumpsuit must have been padded to change his figure to seem feminine. He had to be young; going by the leanness of his face and his height, he had probably suffered from malnourishment during his growth years. _Not a partner after all, just an expendable decoy._

"Do you have a message for me?"

The youth grinned. "Nah, she jus' told me not to talk or let 'em take off the mask until you came by, hey?"

Thrawn shook his head. "I doubt we'll get anything of use from him." He left the officers to take care of the prisoner, returning to the CIC to wrap up the operation.


	4. Chapter 3

Thrawn drove home in a sour mood. Sure, he'd seen through Kali's charade and correctly guessed her true target, but she'd still succeeded in killing him and getting away. Thrawn had thought himself skilled at planning for all eventualities; he was learning the hard way how much more difficult it was when you were stuck on the defensive. After all, he had to get everything right every time in order to succeed at his task; Kali just had to get through once to win.

Plus, it seemed she was as good at planning ahead as he was. They had found three other escape routes she'd had ready to go; even if the decoy hadn't thrown them off they'd have been hard-pressed to capture her. She was obviously taking no chances when it came to evading him. Clearly she knew avoiding patterns and throwing all the rules out the window gave her the best chance.

Thrawn frowned, steering his aircar out of the travel lane and braking to a halt. She was throwing out all rules and expected patterns of behavior; he was sure of it. Which meant…well, it would be crazy to go for two targets in one evening. But his men were demoralized, not at full strength, and he himself was not at the top of his game after being outmaneuvered by her. It wasn't even that late into the night, since the dinner party had been an early one. Why wouldn't she go for another target while they were off-balance?

He reached for his commlink and then reconsidered. His men were exhausted, some of them injured, and Mercutio, the likely second target, had his own private guard force. Plus, this was just a hunch. No need to get their hopes up and dash them again in the same night.

He pulled out and turned his aircar around, punching in the address of Caspius Mercutio's skyscraper. A quick trip later, he pulled into the parking area designated for his guards, deliveries, and visitors. A security booth stood at one end of the parking area, and Thrawn made his way to it.

"Good evening," Thrawn greeted the guard. "I need to speak with the head of security. I have reason to believe Mr. Mercutio's life is in danger."

The human behind the window looked unimpressed. "Uh huh. He gets that a lot. We've got things under control here, but thanks."

Thrawn kept his expression calm, pulling out his military ID. "I see you have no idea who I am. Perhaps this will clarify the situation."

The guard took the ID, looking between it and Thrawn several times. Apparently he didn't think a nonhuman could attain a rank in high command, because he passed the ID under three different light filters to make sure it wasn't fake. Finally seeming satisfied, he handed it back.

"Admiral, huh? I'll call in the boss. Maybe you can tell him something he doesn't already know." His tone of voice made it clear he doubted that.

A few minutes later the door beside the security booth opened to show another human. The man gestured for Thrawn to enter, then shook his hand.

"Admiral, it's an honor. I'm Rafe Merino. Please, let's speak in my office."

Five minutes later, Thrawn was seated in a small but comfortable room across a scarred wooden desk from Rafe. Niches in the walls held statuettes, curios, and even some antique books; most of it was tribal themed, handmade weapons, idols, and the like.

"Can I offer you a drink, Admiral?" He swept a hand back to indicate a small bar.

"Thank you, but I'd better not. Kali's gotten the better of me once tonight; I need my wits as sharp as possible."

That got the human's interest. "Right to business, then." He gave Thrawn an appraising look. "You think he's coming here?"

"She, yes." Thrawn smiled at the man's look of surprise. "I got a good enough look to confirm that much myself." He explained briefly how the emperor had tasked him with ending the threat to his advisors, about how Kali had tried to trick him into protecting the wrong target, and how she'd still managed to kill her mark and escape. To his credit, Rafe listened attentively, only interrupting with questions for clarification. After Thrawn finished the story, there was silence for a minute.

"So," Rafe said slowly, "you think she's coming here? Right on the heels of another job?"

"What better time could there be? My men are distracted, demoralized, and it's the last thing anyone would expect."

"Almost anyone," Rafe murmured, giving Thrawn a keen look.

Thrawn smiled. "I have studied her extensively. It may be that she won't strike tonight. But I'd bet my favorite Mideret flat that she'll show."

Rafe stood. "Thank you again for coming by. I'd rather be overprepared than underprepared." He gave Thrawn a considering look. "I wonder if you might stick around for a while to see if she shows? I believe your knowledge and insight would be valuable. And you've gotten a look at her before."

"I'd appreciate that," Thrawn said. "The sooner Kali is taken care of, the sooner I can turn my energies back to military matters."

Thrawn accompanied Rafe as he checked in with the guards on duty and made sure there had been nothing out of the ordinary so far. Thrawn listened in, but nothing struck him as out of place.

"Seems like everything is in order out here. Let's go inside and do a circuit."

"Inside?"

"Caspius likes his privacy. He prefers his security to be out of sight whenever possible. I'll need to explain to him that there's a higher risk tonight and that I need to bring some guards in." They got into a turbolift, and Rafe put in his security badge and a code. "Oh, and don't take anything he says too personally," he said, giving Thrawn an apologetic look. "He has a thing about aliens."

Thrawn gave him a thin smile. "I'm quite used to that."

Rafe's lips quirked. "I suppose you'd have to be, being in the military and all."

The turbolift disgorged them into what seemed like a completely different house. Rather than the tastefully understated décor of what Thrawn realized was the servant's area, these rooms boasted an opulence that bordered on ridiculous. Thick carpets, ornate rugs, and plush sofas filled the open area. Works of art were scattered liberally about, mostly paintings and sculptures in the classical human style. Thrawn scrutinized these as they walked, trying to glean information on Mercutio.

There were people, too, and at first Thrawn was surprised by how many there were—until he realized that they were all young and female. Some were human, but plenty of other humanoid species were represented as well. Rafe led him to where a human male was lounging with a Twi'lek female all but draped over him.

Caspius Mercutio was tall for a human, with light-colored skin and hair and a muscular physique. He sat up with a grin as they approached.

"Sir, may I—"

"Rafe, your timing is perfect! I've got a brand new dancer on her way in right now."

Thrawn and Rafe exchanged a glance. It could be a coincidence…or it could be Kali.

"Sir, there might be an attempt on your life in the works."

"Well, then! You'd better hang around then, hadn't you?"

"Just so, sir. May I introduce—"

Mercutio waved for Rafe to be quiet. "Now, I'm trying to work up some proper anticipation, if you don't mind. By all means, do your job, but surely you needn't pester me, hmm?"

"Yes, sir," Rafe said, conceding defeat. He turned to Thrawn and spoke softly. "If this is Kali, she won't be able to bring any weapons in, at least. The two of us should be sufficient to deal with her."

Thrawn nodded, frowning. "I haven't actually seen her except in a hooded body suit, so I won't know her on sight. She, on the other hand, most certainly knows me."

Rafe nodded his understanding. "You need to be out of sight." He glanced around, leading Thrawn to a nearby doorway. "Stay just around this corner." He pointed to a circle inscribed in the floor to one side of the room. "He'll be bringing her in there—it's a fancy old-fashioned turbolift." As he spoke, a clear cylindrical tube rose from the floor, sealing itself to the ceiling. "And there she comes. If she tries anything, I'll yell for you."

Thrawn nodded and stepped around the wall to where he'd be out of sight, settling in to wait and listen. A soft humming sounded, then gave way to Mercutio's voice.

"Well, now, what have we here? Don't be shy, lovely, come a bit closer." A few seconds of silence. "Mmm. Very nice. Give us a dance, dear."

Soft music began to play, and Thrawn tensed. If this was Kali, she'd probably attack in the next few seconds. Dressing up like a dancer was easy; pulling off a convincing act for a man who clearly had a lot of experience with dancers would be much harder. But soft, rhythmic footfalls began to sound in time to the beat of the music. Rafe remained silent, so Thrawn stayed out of sight.

It was possible, however unlikely, that Kali had employed a dancer to help her put on a convincing show. If so, she'd strike after Rafe decided she wasn't a threat and left. Thrawn hoped the security head would be clever enough not to give away his position. Of course, it was just as likely that Kali intended to get in by some other route…or that he'd misjudged and she wasn't coming for Mercutio after all.

The music stopped, and someone, presumably Mercutio, applauded.

"Lovely indeed, my dear. Come here, beside me..."  
"Watch o—" Rafe's cry ended on a choking sound, and adrenaline jolted through Thrawn. He dashed out of his hiding spot, taking in the scene at a glance; Mercutio staring in open-mouthed shock, the Twi'lek girl cowering into his shoulder, Rafe on the ground, clutching his throat, and a dark-skinned woman in a revealing dancer's dress turning from Rafe to the man on the couch.

He made a snap decision to tackle her rather than pull his sidearm; in a contest of brute strength he would have the upper hand over the slender woman, but if he took the second he'd need to draw and take aim, she'd have a hostage—or a corpse—as a shield. As he charged, her eyes flicked to him and widened in surprise and recognition. It froze her in place for less than a second, but that was all he needed; he hit her at full tilt and grabbed on tight as his momentum sent them reeling and, ultimately, falling to the ground. He twisted, trying to stay on top so he could use his weight against her. She squirmed fiercely, trying to get free of his grasp.

There was a soft shushing noise, and a clear cylinder rose around them.

"Well done," came the delighted—and to Thrawn's ear, relieved—voice of Mercutio. "I don't know how you managed that, but you knocked her right into the lift."

Kali had stopped fighting him and was cursing viciously under her breath. Seeing no way she could escape, Thrawn released her and stood.

"I can drop you directly into my hunting grounds and let my pets take care of you."  
Thrawn frowned. "That will not be necessary. Call Coruscant Security Forces and they will come to retrieve her. I can keep her subdued until then.

But the human was already shaking his head. "I won't take the risk. She got too close as it is. Plus," he grinned, "what would be the fun in that?" He looked down at the datapad in his hand, and Thrawn ground his teeth.

"You're making a mistake."

"Bye now," Mercutio said with a wave and a cruel smile, and the floor dropped out from under them.

ψ

They didn't fall too far before the tube angled slightly so they were sliding down a steep incline rather than free-falling. At the speed he was moving, Thrawn wasn't sure how far he'd fallen, but he estimated it had been around three or four stories when the tube leveled out and spat him into a forested park. He landed several seconds before Kali, his clothing having a lower coefficient of friction than her mostly bare skin, and he used those seconds to move away from the opening and draw his blaster.

Instead of shooting out as he had, her momentum ran out somewhere during the level section, and she climbed out gingerly, searching for a moment in the darkness before finding him. Once she spotted him, she started toward him.

"You idiot! Look what you've done."

"Stay back," Thrawn warned her, and she stopped, peering into the darkness. Unsure if she could see it, he told her, "I have a blaster, and I'll use it if you come any closer."

" _I'm_ not what you should be worried about," she said, giving him a look of contempt. "You probably just got us both killed."

He frowned but didn't let his attention waver; she was probably trying to distract him and get his weapon. "Care to elaborate on that?"

"You have no idea what this" she waved a hand to encompass the wilderness around them "is, do you?"

Thrawn felt his patience growing short. "Enlighten me," he said coldly.

"This is Mercutio's hunting grounds. He likes to drop slaves who displease him, or the occasional debtor, into here. It's full of traps and other hazards. Sometimes he makes them fight each other, sometimes he sends wild animals after them. Sometimes he just gets a rifle and hunts them."

"Charming. How does one get out?"

She gave him a look. "You don't. Getting sent here is a one-way trip, unless he sends someone to rescue you."

Thrawn nodded in satisfaction. All he had to do, then, was survive until someone came for him. Most likely once Kali was dead, Mercutio would feel sufficiently safe and send a rescuer.

She gave him another look. "You don't get it, do you? He hates aliens. He's not going to save you."

Thrawn narrowed his eyes, studying her. She seemed to believe she was telling the truth. He felt a chill go through him, one that had nothing to do with the cool night air. Mercutio likely didn't even know who Thrawn really was; they had never been introduced. Rafe would certainly prevail on his boss not to leave a member of Naval High Command to die—but he would need medical care before he could do much. Hells, he'd looked pretty bad off. He might not even know what had happened to Thrawn for some time. And, of course, he had told no one he was coming here.

It looked like he was on his own.

He gave Kali a considering look. From what he'd seen of her penchant for planning, she'd have some way out of here. "In that case," he said, lowering his blaster to point at the ground, "it would seem we need one another to survive."

She gave him an icy look and reached under her skirt, pulling out a small package she'd somehow concealed. "Speak for yourself."

He stepped closer as she began unwrapping the bundle, a hard smile on his lips. "I have a blaster. I'm willing to bet you don't have anything larger than a holdout hidden away. Plus, without my help, sooner or later you'll blunder into a trap and die. My vision is better than a human's in the dark."

She frowned at him as she finished shaking out the cloth in her hand. "So the eyes aren't just for show, then?" She bent and stepped into what turned out to be the legs of a dark-colored bodysuit.

"Unless," Thrawn went on, his tone ironic, "you've got some night optics hidden away in there." The showy dancer's outfit left little to the imagination; he'd be amazed if she'd managed to hide anything other than the jumpsuit and the short knife he now saw gleaming dully in her hand.

"I'll admit the blaster could be useful. But Mercutio can send creatures at us until it's depleted, and then we're back to square one."

"Not if we get to your escape route first."

She paused in the middle of pulling the bodysuit over her shoulders, looking at him in surprise. "You seem awfully sure I have one."

"I've seen the way you plan. I know you have one."

She grinned, or maybe it was a grimace; hard to tell in the darkness. "Even if I did have one, what makes you think I'd take you to it? After today, I think I'd like to see you dead."

"You don't have a choice," Thrawn pointed out, a hard smile on his lips. "You can't possibly move faster than me in the darkness. And as you already pointed out, staying here would be a death sentence. You have to make for your escape route as fast as you can to have the best chance of survival…and that means joining forces with me."

She crossed her arms, glaring at him. "Awfully convenient for you, that you apparently see in the dark so well."

His eyes narrowed. "We're wasting time. Do we have a truce or not?" He holstered his blaster and stepped forward, extending a hand. She stared at him for a second longer, then took his hand in a firm grip.

"Truce. For tonight only."

"Of course."

She scrutinized him for another second and sighed. "I don't have my bearings anymore after the ride down here, and the foliage is too thick to see through. I need to get higher and find some landmarks before I'll know which way to go."

Thrawn glanced around. There were a number of trees nearby, but their branches began high enough off the ground that she'd have trouble getting to them without help. He started toward the nearest one, remembering what she's said about traps. He encountered nothing in the few steps it took to get there, nor did he see anything on the tree itself, so he put his back to the trunk and crouched down, cupping his hands to give Kali a boost. She stepped into his hands, and he straightened, launching her into the tree's lower branches.

After a minute she dropped to the ground and pointed. "This way."

Thrawn nodded and turned, scanning the ground and undergrowth before moving off.


	5. Chapter 4

They didn't get far before their troubles began. Thrawn nearly triggered a tripwire, only noticing when his foot was a bare two centimeters away from it. As much as it pained him to, he went more slowly after that; they were moving at a crawl, but that was better than hitting a trap in the darkness.

Then they had to backtrack and detour when he spotted the chest-high mud towers of a chirika colony. At least the insects' patrols hadn't found them before they recognized the danger, or they would have been forced to flee from a swarm of the tiny venomous insects.

"What else do you know about Mercutio? Could he be watching us right now?"

He glanced back in time to see Kali grimace. "Probably. I wasn't able to hack his security feeds, but he no doubt has a way to watch the people he sends down here get torn to pieces."

Thrawn nodded. "So he'll probably take measures to prevent us from escaping. Any idea what he might bring to bear? You mentioned wild animals?"

"Yeah, and probably some pretty exotic ones. But he may not risk them if he thinks we're trapped, especially since we're armed. He'd probably prefer to let his traps do the job, or hope we turn on one another. I doubt he'll come down himself. He doesn't care for a fair fight. He may send some of his slaves after us, though."

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Finally Thrawn said, "You don't seem concerned that he might be listening."

Kali threw an arm out to encompass the woods around them. "In this? I doubt it. We'd have seen the voice pickups by now." She glanced around into the dark. "You haven't seen any, have you? They'd be small, probably black, with a trailing—"

"I know what to look for," he assured her, stepping carefully forward and peering around. "I haven't seen any. He might have a directional amplification array, though."

Her sigh drifted forward from behind him. "I know. But there's no way for us to know, so there's no sense in worrying about it."

Thrawn nodded. "True. Though it wouldn't hurt to be careful."

She didn't reply, and they continued on in silence for several minutes until Thrawn stopped with a frown.

"What's wrong?" Kali asked him after several seconds.

He pointed ahead of them. "Tripwire, about six centimeters off the ground, stretched between those trees. You can barely see it through the grass."

She squinted in the darkness. "I think I see it." She started to turn to the left, but Thrawn shook his head.

"Pressure plate, about a meter and a half from us. Just over half a meter away from the tripwire."

She didn't bother looking for this one, studying him instead, seeming to realize there was more. Thrawn suppressed a smile and pointed to the right.

"There's a spot over there where the foliage is stiffer, doesn't sway in the breeze the same as everywhere else. I suspect it's a sophisticated pit trap." His smile died. "And with the frequency that we've found secondary triggers and traps, I'm not willing to try and go between them."

Kali bit her lip, and Thrawn made a mental note of the uncharacteristic gesture. "Is that all of them?"

"I don't think so," Thrawn replied. "There's something that could be a deadfall trap to the left. I can't say for sure from here."

"I thought it seemed like we'd had it too easy before. Maybe this is why he's not worried about us escaping."

"It seems likely," Thrawn said grimly. "And something tells me there are a few more traps that I haven't seen. We'll have to detour and hope we can find a way through."

They skirted the traps, and Thrawn was not surprised to find several more roughly in a row. They eventually came to a gap in the traps, but Thrawn's instincts told him there was something there he wasn't seeing. He kept going, and if Kali realized he was bypassing a potential passage, she said nothing. Finally the line of traps came to an end at a large clearing. Thrawn paused, searching, but he could see no danger. Perhaps Mercutio saw little point in putting traps in the open, where they could easily be seen and avoided.

"What is it?" Kali murmured, moving close to be heard without raising her voice.

"It looks clear through here," he said. As before, his instincts were warning him that something was wrong, but they couldn't afford to keep sidetracking much longer.

Kali looked doubtfully out over the clearing. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"No," Thrawn said darkly. "But I don't see any obvious danger, and we haven't been making any headway for too long. Unless you can see something dangerous, we should try to get through here. Extremely carefully, of course."

She scanned the clearing, eyes wide and searching in the darkness, and shook her head. "I don't see anything."

Thrawn nodded and began making his way toward the far side of the clearing, sticking to the middle in case there were traps concealed at its edges.

"There are some vines on the ground here," he said, pointing the nearest ones out to Kali. "Try to step where I do." He stepped carefully between the ropy lengths of vegetation, taking pains not to trip on them. He still worried Kali might seize an opportunity like that to divest him of his blaster, perhaps even force him to be her pathfinder and then shoot him once she reached her escape route.

Despite Thrawn's misgivings, there seemed to be no hazards in the clearing; they had nearly reached the far side with no mishaps. Thrawn stopped as they drew close to the treeline, scanning the underbrush and low branches for the telltale signs of traps.

"What in—kriff!"

Thrawn spun at Kali's outburst, turning in time to see her fall forward onto her hands and knees. He took a careful step toward her, trying to determine what had happened—

"Thrawn!"

Responding to the urgency in her tone, he lurched forward, catching her outstretched hand just as her knees went out, leaving her prone on the ground. To his surprise, he found himself in a game of rope-tug, with Kali's body in place of the rope. He tried to brace himself and pull her free, but whatever had her apparently had a good grip. It also had an inexorable pull, he realized as he was dragged forward.

"Vines," she gasped, and after an instant of confusion Thrawn realized that must be what had hold of her. Now that he was looking for it, he could see the previously still vines writhing in the faint light from nearby buildings, could hear a rustling sound that hadn't been part of the night's background noise before.

Thrawn stifled a curse as he was pulled forward again. He was pulling Kali as hard as he dared; any more force and he feared he might dislocate her arm. He needed to get a grip on her torso so he could wrench her free of the vines; but even as he realized that, he saw vines twisting around her waist. Realizing it was now or never, he lunged forward to catch her under her armpits, pulling back with all his strength. Kali gripped his arms in return, and he caught a glimpse of her eyes, wide and very white in her dark face, as he heaved.

Incredibly, it still wasn't enough. Thrawn's heels dug furrows in the dirt as they were pulled forward. He cursed again as he felt a vine hit his hand; another one came over his foot and began to curl around his ankle. Realizing this approach wasn't working, he kicked his foot free of the vine before it could ensnare him and released his hold on Kali. She gave his a betrayed look as she fell, but he didn't have time to explain.

He let his momentum carry him back a few steps to where he should be safe from the vines and could get a better view of what was happening. Kali was being pulled toward a nest of now-writhing vines, and as she was pulled over new ones they began coiling around her.

His jaw tightened as he realized how limited his options were. If he got caught by the vines and immobilized, they'd both be helpless, trapped, most likely dead. He located a large vine as it began to curl around Kali and took careful aim, severing it before it could fully entrap her. The severed end writhed aimlessly, no longer a threat, and Thrawn fired carefully again.

Three more shots detached three more vines, but Thrawn could see this was going too slowly. He needed to find the plant's central system and destroy it. Assuming, that is, that it had one. He moved forward carefully. It wasn't too difficult, since most of the vines in front of him had twisted around Kali. He narrowed his eyes, searching…it seemed that the vines came together at a point a few meters ahead. And with Kali fast approaching that spot, he deemed it best not to wait for confirmation.

He fired several shots into the spot and was rewarded with a marked uptick in the agitated rustling of the vines throughout the clearing. A few shorter ones nearby flailed around into the air before coiling protectively around the spot he'd been shooting, and Kali's involuntary progress slowed a bit.

He caught up to her to find her hacking blindly at the vines encircling her. She was almost completely cocooned, her legs and one arm entirely bound by the encircling vines, and she'd tucked her chin down tightly to her chest to keep from being strangled. Her knife whipped back and forth, trying to keep the vines from pinning her free arm.

He took in the situation at a glance and opened fire on the vines dragging her along. A few quickly-aimed shots slowed her forward progress to almost nothing, and he darted forward, holstering his blaster as he did. Close in, it would do more harm than good. He grabbed a double handful of the vines trying to constrict around her neck and strained, loosening them centimeter by centimeter until they finally gave abruptly, falling limp in his hands.

"Bhairava…"

Kali, no longer in imminent danger of strangulation, was looking up at him in shock, alloyed with something like fear. He didn't recognize the word she spoke, but he filed it away for later consideration. For a taut second they just stared at each other, and suddenly Thrawn realized he'd always been a bit more composed around her. He reined in his expression.

"Your knife," he said, holding his hand out, and she passed it over silently. He held her against him with his left arm, pulling her back the way they'd come and cutting the vines as they pulled tight. Finally she could stand on her own, shaking free the last few vines. Thrawn turned the blade and handed it back to her handle first. She studied him for a second before taking it and returning it to a sheath on her hip. He let himself take a few deep breaths to re-center himself, looking Kali over as he did.

Not surprisingly, she looked like she was coming down from an adrenaline reaction, eyes large and darting, limbs slightly shaky. He frowned, narrowing his eyes to sharpen his vision, but between the dimness of the lighting and her dark skin tone he couldn't see any wounds she might have sustained.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

Her eyes blinked, bright in the darkness. "A few scratches and bruises, nothing major."

He nodded and looked around, trying to spot any traps that might be nearby.

"I think that was a padju strangler vine. I didn't know they could get that big."

He glanced at her. "I can't say that I'm familiar."

"It's an exotic plant from one of the moons of Arnon. It catches animals and strangles them, dropping the carcasses on its roots so the nutrients leach into the soil as they decay." She glanced around the clearing. "I've wanted to see one for years. I would have preferred to have done so from a bit more of a distance, though."

"I imagine so," Thrawn murmured, a small smile curving his lips. He glanced around the clearing. It was roughly circular, and he could see no clear landmarks; he had only a rough idea which way they'd been traveling before. "I don't suppose you can tell which way we were going."

"Not a clue. Let's figure out which of these trees is the tallest and get another look."

ψ

"So I've been wondering," Kali's voice came from behind him, "how you figured out where I'd be tonight."

Thrawn paused to glance back at her. Her expression revealed nothing but curiosity, though he was sure there was more to her query.

"I was only a little surprised to find your forces protecting Jarvis," she went on. "I had a suspicion my misdirection wouldn't fool you. But I figured I'd have a clear shot at Mercutio. How did you find out I was coming here?" A peevish look crossed her face, and Thrawn suppressed a smile.

"I've been studying you, the way you think and plan, your patterns and tendencies. I have a," he paused, his lips quirking, "knack, you might say, for predicting my opponents' plans."

"But how do you do it? Where do you get your information?"

His smile widened. "I'll tell you if you'll agree to come work for me. Not the Empire," he clarified as her mouth opened in a nascent refusal. "I'm talking about my…personal project out in the Unknown Regions."

She frowned at him, her eyes suspicious. "What are you talking about?"

Thrawn considered how much to tell her. She was still something of a skifter; while she wasn't furious with him any more, had in fact seemed appreciative of his superior vision in the darkness, he would be a fool to assume her attitude would outlast the situation. That said, though, she would be a valuable asset if he could win her to his side.

"I can't say too much here," he said, opting to blame his reticence on their location and the possibility that Mercutio could be listening in. "I'm in charge of mapping portions of the Unknown Regions. While that may sound boring, it's actually fraught with a surprising amount of danger. Your skills would be invaluable there—not just as an assassin, mind you, but also to train my troops." He shot a glance back at her, found her expression thoughtful. "If you're interested, I could reveal more details once we get out of here."

"An interesting offer, but I fear I must decline."

Thrawn shrugged, handing back a branch he'd bent out of his way so as not to send it whipping into her face. "You know where to find me if you change your mind," he said.

An eerie howl froze them in their tracks, and Thrawn felt a chill as several more howls joined it. After a few seconds the howls died away and Thrawn jolted back into motion, picking up the pace as much as he dared. He skirted a line of traps, keeping them about four meters away from them—far enough that they should be out of range of any of the secondary traps that Mercutio seemed so fond of, but close enough to use them as an early warning system for whatever was hunting them.

A few minutes later the howls sounded again, much closer this time. He stopped and turned back to Kali, found her jaw tight.

"We're not going to make it to the wall in time, are we?" he said softly.

"Doesn't look like it."

He nodded. "We've been paralleling a line of traps over there. We should try to lure some of our pursuers into them."

"Show me where to stand."

Thrawn mentally triangulated the howls as he led her carefully closer to the traps. He pointed the nearest ones out to Kali, trusting she'd place them between herself and whatever creatures were coming for them.

"I don't suppose you've got another blaster you've been keeping to yourself."

Thrawn shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

Kali grimaced and unfastened her choker necklace. Curious, Thrawn watched as she unraveled it into a thin metal cord about a meter long. She hooked the loops at either end over her index fingers and crouched slightly into a battle-ready stance. Thrawn could hear their pursuit crashing through the underbrush; they were close now. He let his focus narrow in that direction, for the moment completely disregarding Kali in his threat assessment.

A few seconds later, the first of their pursuers appeared through the undergrowth—a squat, muscular quadruped with a distinctively canine appearance. From holos he'd seen, it had to be a nek battledog. The creature paused once it had them in sight, sending up another of those chilling howls. The voices that answered it were just behind it, and as Thrawn took aim, several more appeared from the bushes.

He'd expected them to make a concerted charge, but instead the fearsome creatures fanned out to begin encircling them. Perhaps they'd learned not to group up in this trap-filled environment. Thrawn glanced at Kali, found her composed, if not entirely calm.

"Ready?" he murmured, and she gave a stiff nod. Thrawn shifted his aim to the nek circling the closest to his side, knowing that if the creatures managed to flank them they'd be in serious trouble.

He fired once, twice, three times, hitting the nek squarely each time, but it didn't go down. It did recoil and yelp in pain, and Thrawn shifted his aim to its legs. As he'd expected, the other neks began to move in as soon as he opened fire; one triggered a trap and was engulfed in a gout of flame with a blue heart. The nek he'd shot went down, its front legs a mess of charred flesh, and Thrawn glanced around the battlefield. He shifted to the side, luring another nek into a trap; it froze in place, shuddering, and Thrawn saw electricity arc from it into the ground and plants nearby.

He opened fire on another that was charging around its fallen comrade, aiming first for the legs this time, then shooting it in the head until it ceased moving. With the neks on his side taken down, he turned toward Kali in time to see another nek take a flying leap at her. He shouted and fired, the hastily aimed shot missing, then felt his eyes go wide as Kali _twisted._ The nek landed right where she'd been, turned—and suddenly Kali was jerked off her feet, dragged behind the battledog.

He realized by the way it began ducking and backing up that she'd managed to garrote it as it flew by. He set his amazement aside and took aim at the nek coming to its packmate's rescue. He disabled and killed it as quickly as he could and turned to find the next.

There were no more; between the two of them and the traps they'd gotten them all. Thrawn carefully checked the ones he'd shot, making sure they were dead. The ones killed by traps he left alone. Finally satisfied that their pursuers were no more, he returned to Kali. She rose as he approached, checking the nek she'd strangled before glancing around them.

"That would seem to be all of them," Thrawn informed her.

"Good." She nodded, the motion sharp.

Thrawn turned to find the direction they'd been traveling before they stopped to fight the neks. "There is another problem. My blaster is running low on charge, and I didn't bring a spare power pack."

"Not good," she said. "We should try to move faster. At least it shouldn't be too much further now."

As they set out again, Thrawn hoped she was correct about that.


	6. Chapter 5

When they finally reached the enclosure's wall, a wave of relief washed over Thrawn. It ebbed quickly, though, as he studied the obstacle in front of them. Around three meters high, the wall looked to be made of smooth durasteel, with no visible joins or cracks they could use to climb it.

"Follow the wall to the right. And quickly."

He set off, moving as fast as he dared. "I hope you're right about which way to go," he said darkly. "If Mercutio's security forces find your escape route before we do, we may not make it out."

"I'm sure," she said. She didn't sound worried. "I made sure to aim us to the left side of our destination so we wouldn't end up walking away from it. Plus, that way, if Mercutio had his goons looking along our route, they won't have found anything. But now they know which way to look, which is why we have to hurry."

"What am I looking for?" Thrawn asked, picking his pace up a bit more.

"A thin bit of cabling coming over the wall. The end is fused to the wall about a meter up."

Thrawn nodded and let his hand trail along the wall; hopefully if he didn't see it, he'd feel it. He couldn't be sure, especially with the pall of light pollution from the city around them, but he thought the night might be growing a bit lighter. They moved forward at a steady pace for what felt like an hour, though he was sure it was just stress making it seem to take so long.

It seemed that Mercutio considered his wall to be sufficient determent; he found few traps near it, allowing them to make good time. Finally he spotted the cable. He resisted the urge to rush forward, continuing his search for potential hazards to just past it. His heart sank as he stopped beside it. It was gear cabling, its entire length lined with teeth meant to mesh with a specialized climber harness. In theory, he could try to climb it, but it would shred the meat of his hands quickly, and he'd soon find himself unable to hold on. It would seem he was still dependent on Kali for a way out.

A sound in the underbrush caught his attention, and he turned, motioning to Kali as he did.

"This should be your cable, if I'm not mistaken." She came over to it and began fitting her climber to it. Thrawn saw the undergrowth he'd heard the rustling come from begin to shake.

"May I suggest you hurry?" he added, pulling out his blaster and interposing himself between her and whatever was approaching.

"Working on it," she replied, her voice tight.

The rustling underbrush parted, revealing a dark-colored, vaguely reptilian creature. It stood on six legs, maybe a meter and a half long including its tail. Its long, triangular head seemed to split in half when it opened its mouth, revealing row upon row of sharp-looking teeth. _Definitely carnivorous,_ he thought, then suppressed a curse when two more appeared, one to either side of the first, forming a rough semicircle with him and Kali at its center. _Pack hunters, too, it looks like._ Maybe if he took out the leader, the others would back off. It wasn't much of a hope, but it was all he had.

The creatures had already begun their advance, so Thrawn wasted no more time, opening fire on the one that had shown itself first. His first three shots struck it in the head and neck, missing its eyes but making it screech in pain or outrage. It recoiled and changed its approach, weaving from side to side as it came on. Thrawn fired a steady stream of blaster bolts at it, more of them hitting the creature than missing it. Without warning it let out a horrifying shriek and stopped, twisting and writhing on the ground where it had fallen. The other two creatures froze, studying him with baleful eyes.

Thrawn let out the breath he'd been holding to steady his aim. He checked his power pack and had to suppress another curse. He didn't have enough power remaining to kill a second reptile, let alone a third, not with how many shots the first one had shrugged off. He'd have to wait until they were at point-blank range and make sure his shots didn't miss.

The creatures had been hissing and yowling back and forth while he did his mental calculations, then one of them began moving in, more slowly this time. The second followed suit after a brief hesitation. He could see the light glinting off their claws, see the way they held their tails like they were another weapon, not just a counterbalance. There was no way he could get them both before they reached him.

The plans and strategies whirling through his mind were abruptly scattered by Kali's voice.

"Thrawn! Time to go!"

He blinked in surprise, so sure she would have left him behind that his mind had to stop and adjust for a fraction of a second. He backed up toward her voice, unwilling to take his eyes off the reptiles, sure they'd charge the moment he did. Kali's hand landed on his shoulder, guiding him to the wall beside her. He flicked his eyes to the side without moving his head, trusting that the creatures wouldn't be able to discern the subtle movement. Kali was off the ground, hanging from her harness, her arms open toward him.

He took a deep breath and murmured, "On go. Three, two…" He whipped his free hand toward the more hesitant creature as though he were throwing something at it, and it flinched back and darted to the side.

"One…" As his body steadied from the motion, he took quick aim at the other reptile, which had darted forward when he'd turned, and squeezed off two quick shots. It screeched and leapt backward. He threw himself at Kali, wrapping his arms around her, one over her shoulder and the other under her arm so he could grip her tightly without choking her.

"Go," he gasped, and they began moving upward. He became aware of a soft but growing hum and braced his feet against the wall to turn so he could see the creatures. They had come forward to where he'd been standing and were sniffing the ground and sending hisses and yowls back and forth. He kept his eyes fixed on them until they stopped moving upward.

"Top of the wall," Kali said. "Gotta turn around and reposition."

She helped him to a precarious sitting position straddling the wall, and he returned his attention to the creatures below. One of them stood against the wall in an attempt to climb it but slid down, its claws screeching against the metal. The other one pawed at the wall several times. On the fifth time its claws caught, and it began the process again with a higher claw-hold. He turned to Kali, found that she'd paused in the middle of turning around, head cocked in a listening pose.

"We need to move. The wall isn't going to stop those creatures for long."

Kali blinked and jolted back into motion. "Do you hear that sound?"

Thrawn frowned, listening. The hum he'd noticed earlier had grown louder and changed from a uniform sound to one that stuttered rapidly.

"I think that's Mercutio's hovercopter. It's a repulsor-lifted, rotor guided vehicle he uses for hunting. Very fast, very maneuverable, capable of moving in any direction or just hovering in place." She finished fiddling with her climber's controls and opened her arms toward him. "Make sure you keep your blaster arm free in case he spots us."

Thrawn hooked his free arm around the back of her neck and wrapped his legs around her, and she grasped him under his arms with a surprisingly strong hold.

"And keep clear of the climber's feed. I've set it to max speed, so if something gets caught in it, well." She grimaced. "Don't let anything get caught in it."

They began moving down the wall, Thrawn with his back to it watching for threats and Kali walking them down the wall so he wouldn't scrape against it too badly. The stuttering hum, which he assumed must come from the craft's rotors, continued to grow.

"You think he'll find us?" Thrawn asked, raising his voice to be heard over the noise.

Kali looked at him. "I don't know how loud that thing is, so I have no idea how close he might be. But considering planetary noise regulation limits, I'd bet he's close. He'll have thermal optics, too, so he'll spot us easily once he gets to this side of the building."

"How much farther do we have to go?" The climber's pace seemed like a crawl.

Kali shook her head. "From the bottom of the wall, thirty-eight stories. We've gone eight."

Thrawn grimaced and turned toward the source of the roar. _At least he can't sneak up on us,_ he mused with dark humor.

They passed a few more rows of windows before a small craft came around the building's corner. Thrawn tensed and took aim but didn't fire, mindful of the precious few shots he had left and fearing giving away their position prematurely. Apparently Mercutio hadn't expected them to make it so far down; Thrawn watched the craft for a good twenty seconds before it stopped its scanning pattern and flew down to hover just a bit above them.

The craft rotated to the side, and Thrawn saw that there were open windows on either side of the craft's spherical cockpit. The long barrel of some kind of rifle poked out, and Thrawn fired into the window. The barrel jerked back, but before Thrawn could adjust his aim to the shadowy figure inside, the craft rotated in place so the front was almost directly toward them and the open window was in profile, the opening too narrow to hit. This time Mercutio kept his body safely behind the transparisteel as he took aim at them.

"Does that thing have any weak points?" he asked Kali, flinching as Mercutio's first shot missed them to strike the building a meter away. No doubt aiming this way would take some adjustment, but if he was as serious about hunting as Kali had implied, it wouldn't take him long to compensate.

"Usually with craft like that the rotors are a potential weak spot," she shouted back. "The blades are probably hardened, though. You'll have to time your shot perfectly if the blades are in front of the shaft."

Thrawn nodded and focused his attention on the front rotor, barely registering the shot that struck the building just above them.

"Give me the blaster and I can do it," Kali said. He ignored her, putting a foot out to kick off a nearby windowsill. Mercutio's shot rang out at the same time, striking uncomfortably close to where they'd been a moment before.

"Thrawn, you have to have split-second timing. Let me take the shot."

Thrawn scowled at her. "I can do it. If I miss four times, then you can try. Now, stop distracting me."

She fell silent, and he took aim once again. He breathed in, out, then held it, counting in his head and squeezing off three shots in rapid succession. The first one was deflected away toward the sky, but the others hit the rotor shaft. The propeller tore free with a sharp shriek of stressed metal, and the hovercopter flew backward, almost recovering before slamming into the face of the building across the skylane from them. The repulsors must have been damaged in the collision, because the craft dropped directly down, out of sight in the morning darkness.

"Nicely done," Kali said, a bit grudgingly.

Thrawn grinned, elated with success and relief. Before he could tease Kali for her lack of faith in his abilities, though, he heard a soft scrabbling noise from above. He looked up to see the reptilian creatures making their way down the wall toward them. His smile dropped away and he muttered a curse. With the noise from Mercutio's hovercopter, neither of them had heard the creatures catching up to them.

"What is…oh." Kali glanced up at his epithet and her eyes went wide. The creatures weren't moving fast, since they had to claw out holds for themselves where there were no windowsills or other grips, but they were catching up.

"Tell me we're almost there," Thrawn said.

Kali stared up at the creatures, her expression tense. "We're getting close. See if you can slow them down."

The closer of the two had just paused to dig out a spot for its claws, so Thrawn opened fire on it, aiming his shots with care. It yowled and hunched closer to the building, but when he managed to get it in the eye, it seemed it had had enough. It twisted around and went back up the wall. He shifted his aim to the other, but his power pack ran dry after two shots, not enough to deter the creature. He silenced the depleted power pack alarm.

"Out of shots," he informed Kali tersely, and turned the blaster around, holding it by the barrel.

"We're almost there."

One set of windows after that, they began to slow, stopping by a window on the next row. Thrawn glanced down and saw Kali wedging her knife into a gap at the bottom of the window. He heard it slide upward a moment later.

"Get in!"

The creature was almost on top of them. Thrawn, with Kali's assistance, shifted to the side so the open window was behind him. He wrapped his legs more tightly around Kali and swung his blaster at the reptile as it came in range. The blow connected, driving the creature back, but it lashed out and scored his forearm with its claws as he struck it.

Thrawn twisted and ducked into the window, grabbing the sides before releasing his legs' grip on Kali. He fell inside in an undignified heap and got to his feet as quickly as his abused body could manage. He saw Kali, still attached to the cable, swinging her knife at the creature. For a moment he contemplated closing the window and leaving her to die, but after she'd waited for him at the wall, he couldn't bring himself to do it. Plus, if he did and she somehow survived, she'd kill him for sure.

He reached out of the window and caught one of her legs, pulling it inside, then the other. Once she was in to the waist, he leaned out and grabbed her torso. She released the harness, dropping into his arms, and he pulled her the rest of the way inside.

As they stumbled back, he saw one of the creature's paws grip the window's edge. He dropped Kali and moved to the window. If that thing got into the room with them it would tear them to shreds. Thrawn knew firsthand how sharp its claws were—and how fast its reflexes were. Another claw dug into the windowsill, and then its head and torso came into view. Thrawn kicked high, nailing it in the face and earning another set of claw furrows on his calf as the creature shrieked, flailing as it fell away from the building.

Thrawn slammed the window shut and engaged the mechanical lock, then turned back to see Kali on her feet, watching him. He felt a stab of worry—would she consider the truce over now? He studied her, looking for weaknesses, assessing her body language and physical condition. Her arms bore several sets of scratches like his own, though not as deep. Her jumpsuit was torn in several places, suggesting injury, and her hair was in disarray. She looked… Thrawn relaxed as he realized she looked just as tired as he felt. She was watching him warily, probably wondering if he would break the truce now.

Thrawn passed a hand over his face, trying to scrub away some of his weariness. "Let's get the frell out of here."

She laughed softly at that. "Sounds like a stellar idea."

She moved past him to the room's door, and he followed her through what looked like a disused office complex. After a moment's deliberation, he said, "If we can get up to Mercutio's garage, I have an aircar there. I'll drop you off wherever you like."

She snorted. "You'll give me my pick of planetary security stations, you mean? Thanks, but I'll find my own ride."

Thrawn stopped, and after a few steps Kali did as well, turning back to face him. He spoke before she could say whatever snide thing her body language was proclaiming.

"I fully expected you to leave me at the wall. You didn't. For that, you have earned my respect. I will drop you off wherever you want to go."

She shrugged. "I don't know if I would have made it to the cable without your help. We're even."

Thrawn raised an eyebrow. "I know the test for gear cabling. Our combined weight was over the recommended maximum load. You took a risk in bringing me along, no matter how you look at it."

She looked faintly embarrassed. "I'll think about it," she muttered, turning back to lead the way again.

They rode the building's turbolift to its highest level, and Thrawn was disheartened when they stepped out not into a garage level but another set of offices. Kali seemed unconcerned, though, so he did his best to hide his disappointment as he followed her. She led him to a janitorial closet. Following her gaze upward, he saw a hatch set into the ceiling.

"That will take you to the garage level. I'll help you get up there." She glanced around the dark room and found a stepladder. Together they unfolded it into a tall xesh shape, then she held the far side to stabilize it as he climbed up. The access panel gave him no trouble, though his shoulders were a bit too broad to fit through easily. He had to all but hug himself to get through, and he was glad that Kali was holding the ladder.

Once he was through he leaned down to offer Kali a hand up, but she shook her head. "Thanks, really, but I'll find my own way."

 _No doubt she has several other ways out of here, with modes of transportation at their ends._ "Suit yourself. The offer remains until I leave."

The access panel had let him out in a small alcove of the garage between two massive support girders. He stepped out and wearily scanned around for his aircar. He found it still where he'd left it, near the guard station he'd entered through so many hours before. He couldn't see if the security booth was manned from this angle, so he sent a prayer to his ancestors that it wouldn't be and started for his aircar.

He had almost made it there when a voice behind him called out, "Hey!"

Thrawn almost ignored it and kept going. _Three more steps…_ But if it was a security guard, he was certainly armed. He spun around, putting a hand on his empty blaster.

It was a different guard from when he'd come in, but he was wearing the same uniform. As he saw Thrawn's face his eyes went huge, and he hauled his blaster up to point at him. Thrawn drew at the same time, praying the man wouldn't see through his bluff.

"It _is_ you, you bastard!"

Thrawn glared right back at the human. "Yes. It's me, the member of _Naval High Command_ that Mercutio tried to kill. He was executed for it. Do you really want to join him?"

The man glared at him, and Thrawn noticed his jaw working slightly as though he were grinding his teeth. _Looks like he'd love to finish what his boss started._ The man shifted his grip on the blaster in his hands, and Thrawn tensed, ready to dive under the blaster's line of fire, roll toward the man— _on this duracrete that's going to hurt_ —and disarm and subdue him. It could work, if he was lucky. But he was already tired and sore…

A meaty thwack cut off his thoughts, and the man dropped his blaster and clutched the side of his neck. _Is that…a knife handle?_ He pivoted, not entirely surprised to see Kali walking toward him. He reholstered his blaster.

"Thank you. Again."

She shrugged. "I decided to take you up on your offer of a ride after all." She put her foot on the writhing, dying man and pulled the knife out, wiped it on his uniform to clean it. She noticed Thrawn staring and seemed suddenly chagrined.

"Sorry, I didn't see any good way to take him down without killing him."

Thrawn wondered if she hadn't had a good line to his gun hand, decided not to bring it up. It would have been tragic for him to survive Mercutio's death gardens only to die at the hands of one of his lackeys, mere meters from his aircar.

"I warned him. There's nothing to apologize for." He unlocked the aircar and they got in. Kali directed him to a nearby taxi depot, and he put the destination into the car's nav system.

"Have you given any thought to my earlier offer of employment? If you are concerned about retaining your civilian status, I can arrange that."

She shook her head, a small smile on her lips. "Why are you so keen on this?"

"You are clearly talented. I can't help but feel your skills are wasted taking out the trash like you've been doing." He sighed. "If I have to kill you to neutralize the threat you pose, I will, but it would be a waste."

"You don't know me as well as you think you do."

Thrawn glanced over to see her looking pensively out the aircar's front windscreen. It wasn't much, a pinched look around the eyes, a faint bitter twist to the lips, but whatever memory she was reliving seemed to have touched her with self-loathing.

"Perhaps not. I thought you cared about making the galaxy better. My forces are bringing order to an expanding area of the Unknown Regions, taking out the slavers and warlords and forging a coalition with the native peoples. The only oversight the Empire has is that I report directly to the emperor; I have full control over operations and diplomacy."

He glanced at her again; she was still staring forward, betraying no interest. "And if you're wondering why I care, it's because my people live near there. They exiled me for…ideological differences, but that doesn't mean I can't make life safer for them as well as the other people of the Unknown Regions."

They arrived at the depot, and Thrawn pulled the aircar up to the duracrete walk for Kali.

"If you decided you're interested, you know where to find me."

She studied him, her gaze softening. "Take care of yourself, Thrawn."

He nodded, disappointment uncurling in his gut. "Good luck."

She slipped out of the aircar and was swallowed up by the streams of beings making their way to work in the faint light of morning.


	7. Epilogue

Thrawn left Kali out of his report, saying only that he went to warn Mercutio of the possibility that Kali might be targeting him and that Mercutio didn't believe he was truly a naval officer, forcing Thrawn to fight his way out and kill him in order to escape. He didn't think the emperor would agree that building goodwill and trying to win Kali over would be more valuable than simply killing her.

Everything he'd learned about Kali indicated that she would be laying low for a while, especially since he'd gotten to study her closely. Most likely she had gotten off-planet before he had finished making his report. At the very least, she'd be relocating her base of operations and altering her appearance. He kept the task force on the lookout in case she decided to take another job in defiance of all wisdom and logic, but he was not surprised when several weeks passed with no sign of her.

He was surprised to jolt awake in the middle of the night to find Kali standing over his bed again. She wasn't pointing a blaster at him this time, at least. Heart thudding as he remembered the threat from her last visit, he said, "I hope the new security system gave you some trouble."

She smiled. "Don't worry, I'm just here to talk." She wasn't using the synthesizer, and her hood was thrown back. _Not much point, I suppose._ She was silent for some time, a pensive look on her face, and Thrawn found himself caught between amusement that she wanted to talk but couldn't seem to find the words and irritation that she'd woken him up for this.

"Have you heard of sanatana dharma?" she asked finally.

Thrawn nodded. "I'd never heard of reincarnation before you mentioned it. I encountered it while learning about that and read up a bit to get some insight on you."

"So you've heard of Shiva, then?" At Thrawn's nod she went on, haltingly at first. "I am—my people, we are Shiva worshippers. We revere all the gods, of course, but we see him as the greatest. I got quite a shock when I first saw a picture of you." She smiled.

"No doubt similar to the one I had when I first saw a depiction of Shiva."

She shrugged. "Learning of your reputation, and especially seeing you in action, it's obvious to me that the resemblance is more than just superficial." The smile faded. "I couldn't help but wonder if you might be an avatar of Shiva."

Thrawn frowned, settling back as he thought back to what he'd read about the religion. "I must confess that I found the finer points of sanatana dharma a bit confusing. But I think I would know if I were the avatar of a god."

"Not necessarily." That strange little smile was back on her lips. "It wouldn't be the first time a god felt the need to hide among mortals to accomplish a divine purpose, the avatar unaware of his status until the moment comes. Plus, even if you did know, I wouldn't expect you to admit to it, especially if your purpose hasn't been fulfilled yet."

"I'd never even heard of sanatana dharma before you mentioned reincarnation. I wouldn't be much of a god if I didn't believe in my own religion, would I?"

Her smile dimmed. "Perhaps not." After a moment she asked, "Do you follow a religion?"

"Not as such," he said. "My people don't believe in gods anymore, aside from a few traditionalist communities. Some of us revere our ancestors, and we do believe in a code of action and thought emphasizing discipline, self-control, personal responsibility, and the good of family."

"And yet here you are, apart from your family, serving the empire."

Thrawn blinked, surprised by how much that stung. "At the time, every decision seemed like the best one, or even the only one." He shook his head. "It sneaks up on you while you're fighting to survive, the cumulative force of hundreds of small decisions. It's like an avalanche, building up and sweeping you away."

"Or burying you,"

The conversation lapsed into silence. Kali looked like she still had more to say but was struggling to put her thoughts into words again.

"Come here," Thrawn said softly, patting the bed beside him.

For a moment she just blinked at him, and he began to think he'd misread her, but after a few seconds she came around the side of the bed and sat down gingerly. Thrawn reached out and took her hand in his, threaded their fingers together.

"I wish you could see yourself through my eyes."

She looked up at that, her gaze meeting his. In the dark room, her eyes seemed to gleam white, the deep brown irises a core of darkness within them.

"What do you see?" she whispered.

"Strength. I see a woman who tries to make the galaxy a better place despite the cost to herself. Despite…." He closed his eyes. "Despite whatever personal tragedy haunts her." He opened his eyes to find her staring at him in shock. "I see beauty. Living art. A brilliant mind matched only by peerless skill."

"Please," she said, her voice hoarse. "Does this mean I have another chance?"

Thrawn frowned. _Why is she asking me…_

"Does this mean I am forgiven?"

He took her other hand. "I am not your god. I can't give you absolution, Kali."

She let out a choked laugh, almost a sob. "Yeah, right. How else could you know?"

"I studied you. Not your past, but your religion and the culture that accompanies it. Your people are not contract killers. You venerate life. Your current profession is giving you huge amounts of bad karma with every job you take, so you must have believed yourself stained beyond hope when you set down this path."

Tears streaked down her face, and he drew her close, letting her head rest on his shoulder.

"My people see wrongs a bit differently than yours. We believe that people can be, in essence, born anew. It requires a fervent desire for change, as well as action on that desire. It also requires atonement for the wrongs committed before the rebirth; that genuine desire to set things right is part of the process. There's a bit more to it, mostly ceremony that doesn't really mean anything here." He sighed. "I can't give you forgiveness. But maybe I can give you hope."

He held her for a few minutes as she shuddered silently, surprised by how small she felt in his arms. Her personality was so forceful it was easy to miss how petite she was, how slender. Her body was corded with muscle, though; her grip on him was surprisingly strong. He ran a hand over her dark hair. It was so curly it made a cloud around her head. His touch seemed to soothe her, so he indulged himself, toying with the strands. His people's hair was nothing like this; they rarely had anything other than straight or slightly wavy hair.

After a while her shaking subsided, and she sat back, wiping her eyes. "I will go with you to the Unknown Regions and see what you are doing there. Assuming I like what I see, I will join your efforts there in whatever capacity you need."

"Thank you," Thrawn said quietly. "It means more to me than I can say."

She drew back from him. "I need some time first, if you don't mind. I'll contact you in a few days." She stood and gave him one last piercing look before slipping out of the room and leaving him to his suddenly tumultuous thoughts and plans.

ψ

Thrawn waited until the last cadet left the classroom, then slipped in and let the door close behind him. Kali glanced up, her eyes rounding at the sight of him, and stood as he came close.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon."

He smiled and drew her into an embrace. "Of course I had to make sure you were settling in well here."

The light in her eyes turned mischievous. "Always so considerate, you."

He kissed her quiet, and she murmured her pleasure into his mouth. After a sweet moment he drew back reluctantly. "How have you been doing?"

"I'm fine, Thrawn. I mean, it's been tricky creating a curriculum from scratch with no prior teaching experience, but the other instructors have been really helpful and understanding."

"Good," he said, a clench releasing in his heart. He wanted so badly for her to find a new calling, a new life here, where she could put her skills to good use without putting her life at risk. Where he could spend time with her when he could find it. _So considerate, indeed._

"So stop worrying," she told him with a smile, and tugged on his neck. He bent down obligingly, and she kissed him hard, his worries vaporizing as his thoughts turned to the more immediate matter of her slender body pressing into his.

"You have, perhaps, an idea for how to take these concerns off my mind?"

She grinned wickedly up at him.


End file.
